Trailblazers

Hours before heading to Afghan

Day one in a foreign land.  Not my first.  It becomes a way of life.  Food seems to get better.  Maybe not better than what we are accustomed to but progressively better than the training food we ate for months on hand months ago.  Lines are shorter; more options are available. Glass coolers full of sodas, juices, and milk.  We sleep in more beds than a stray dog.  Sleep quarters are the same.  A/C pumps in here stronger than an arctic breeze.  Cold showers but running water.  The smallest things start to matter more and more.

What once was complaints of not doing enough or doing to much has become complaints of Facebook postings of friends bragging about beach trips, beer, and babes.  We have our own beach here--without the water, bikinis, or beer...  This is, though, one of the nicer transitional posts I have been to.  Actual sidewalks and paved roads opposed to endless beach sand and gravel so thick you sink.  At lunch chow a soldier still in  the Army's old ACU uniform approached my table asking where we are heading to.  I recognized his deployment patch of last, the 30th brigade.  We were in Iraq under the same brigade, different unit and locations.  Nevertheless, we shared the experience and automatically can relate.  I asked him what he is doing this deployment. "Nothing."  We all hate those soldiers that have cake walks but we so envy them.  His job is to check armor plates here at Manas before soldiers fly to next duty stations.

I must be in the wrong MOS.  Warriors we are said to be but no matter the job we all get paid the same as our rank allows. Either route clearance or chow hall supervisor.  We joined this corps, Army Corps of Engineers, knowing what the job requires and take pride in knowing we are the ones who provide safe passage for the rest of the armed forces.  Trailblazers...

I chat with my wife when I can.  God knows how much I lover her and my little one.  Nothing stays fresher on my mind than their faces.  I carry a phone that carries no service so I may look at their sweet smiles throughout the day.  My wife's face is now a digital image either frozen in time or via Skype.  My daughter's face is a blur for she never stops moving and her teeth look like a mouth full of TicTacs.

As day one comes to a close, we realize we are starting our countdown. Tylenol PM helps to adjust to the ten hour difference we are experiencing.  Sleep will come soon and so will day two.  Our only real wish now is to get to our new home; our nine-month duty station, FOB Lagman.  We are craving regularity. Our own cup of Activea will be the monotony of daily missions followed by hours of lifting weights and sore thumbs from gaming.